South Korea's recent revelation about North Korean troops at the frontline of the Russia-Ukraine war has now been confirmed by the U.S. and NATO. The Petagon says some North Korean troops are heading toward the Kursk region bordering Ukraine. To learn more, TaiwanPlus spoke to Anton Sokolin, a correspondent at NK News in Seoul.
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00:00Media reports suggest North Korean troops are on the front line of the Russia-Ukraine
00:04war.
00:05What evidence has emerged to confirm this?
00:08Indeed, there are multiple reports stating that North Korean troops have started arriving
00:14at the battle zone, closer to the front lines.
00:17We are seeing reports about North Koreans being killed.
00:21There's multiple different media reports circulating right now.
00:25And in these kind of situations, what I say is we need to proceed with caution because
00:30so much unverified information is circulating around.
00:33For now, I'd rather stick to official statements and official positions that have been delivered
00:39by the U.S., NATO, South Korea, and the Ukrainian intelligence.
00:44And for now, what we know for sure that North Korean troops have either entered the Kursk
00:50region or are on their way to the Kursk region.
00:55It's a region bordering Ukraine, where Ukraine has staged a quite successful incursion in
01:01August and basically maintained its position there till now.
01:06What role could North Korean troops play in the Ukraine war?
01:10It depends on what kind of troops they sent, right?
01:13What we are hearing is that it's a few thousand special forces soldiers that were sent to
01:21Russia and subsequently they're going to reach the battle zone.
01:26If it is indeed special forces units, then it means that their use could be quite different.
01:33It could vary.
01:34For example, they could use for covert operations, for sabotage, and for ad hoc operations on
01:42the ground.
01:43Another possible way to use these forces is to repel the incursion, the Ukrainian incursion
01:49in the Kursk region.
01:51And if their composition is uneven, then their duties also could be quite varied.
01:58For example, they could guard posts, they could participate in certain construction
02:03activities or in setting up fortifications.
02:08South Korea says that it's reacting by boosting cooperation with Ukraine.
02:12What would this look like?
02:14We have definitely seen reports about South Korea floating the idea of supplying lethal
02:20weaponry to Ukraine.
02:22So far, we haven't seen any progress in that direction.
02:26As President Yun recently said that South Korea is going to take a phased approach to
02:33the situation and respond step by step.
02:36And it appears to be a smart move not to escalate things further with Russia.
02:41At the same time, we are seeing that South Korea has sent its delegation of defense ministry
02:47and intelligence service officials to the NATO.
02:51And right now, we are expecting these officials, this delegation, to actually reach Kiev and
02:58converse with their counterparts in Ukraine on the situation.
03:03So definitely, Yun is taking this phased approach.
03:08And the delegation is reaching Ukraine.
03:11How things are going to turn out is a pretty big question.
03:14We can't rule it out.
03:16But at the same time, I'm sure officials in Seoul are very mindful of Russia's reaction.